Gofran Biswas Palash, Kalapara (Patuakhali)

Farmers have succeeded in cultivating hybrid bitter gourd in Kalapara of Patuakhali. Bitter gourd is being cultivated in different parts of the country besides being supplied to the local market due to the bumper yield of bitter gourd cultivation under the advice and supervision of the Department of Agriculture.

Farmers of Kumirmara of Nilganj Union of Upazila have achieved success by cultivating bitter gourd on five acres of land in a group of twenty five farmers as members of Smallholder Agricultural Competitiveness Project (SACP) under Directorate of Agricultural Extension Kalapara. Farmers expect to earn taka 20 lakhs by spending taka 5 lakhs on preparation of land beds, weed control, fertilizer, pesticide application and crop production.

On the surface, it can be seen that 25 farmers have achieved success in the cultivation of bitter gourd in modern methods and many farmers of the union are now benefiting from the cultivation of bitter gourd due to financial stability in their families. All over the village there are only gourds and gourds in the farmer's fields. Farmers are selling at the rate of Tk 30-35 per kg of gourd from the field. Which is being sold in the local market at the rate of taka 40-45.

Local farmers claim that if the influential people occupy canals and sluice gates and do not inject salt water into canals for fish farming, we can use fresh water to produce bumper crops in agriculture throughout the year.

Farmer Altaf Hossain Gazi said, "In Bangladesh, we (farmers) of Nilganj Union have been able to produce the most gourds after receiving the training of SACP. Now we have received the training of SACP from the Agriculture Office and got a huge yield by cultivating gourds using modern methods.” Abdul Haque, a farmer of Kumirmara village said, "We (farmers) of Kumirmara cultivate seasonal vegetables with the advice of the agriculture department from Chaitra month to Bhadra month. We have seen the face of success in this.”

Farmer Abul Kalam said, "We (farmers) used to do farming by pulling the dust from the fields, when the monsoons came, the dust washed away and the roots of the trees rotted and the trees died. We (farmers) were affected by this. Now we plant vegetables in raised beds in the fields with SACP project training on the advice of the Agriculture Office, now the agriculture is not wasted by washing the beds.”

Farmer Abul Kalam also said, 'Earlier we used to cultivate with local seeds, now we cultivate with hybrid seeds. We can grow bumper crops throughout the year if the dominants do not inject salt water into the canal for fish farming during the dry season.’

Pakhimara Bazar Vegetable ware house owner Md. Nazrul Islam said, "Four hundred to five hundred maund gourds are sent to different parts of the country every day from Pakhimara. In this, the farmers are also getting the desired price for their produce.”

Kalapara upazila agriculture officer agriculturist Arafat Hossain said, "Farmers of Nilganj Union have produced a large amount of high value crops of gourds. They are sending gourds to different parts of the country including Dhaka by meeting the demand of the local market.”

Arafat Hossain also said, “We have trained farmers in our office through various trainings including SACP. We have taught the farmers how to grow bitter gourd in raised beds using modern methods. And by using this training, farmers are benefiting today.”